Migration and 457 visas are no good for Australia

457 visa is no longer available
https://www.smh.com.au/comment/migration-does-australia-good-457-visas-all-the-more-so-20170419-gvnn8r.html
”Today we are announcing that we are abolishing the 457 visas,” Mr Turnbull, the Prime Minister of Australia, said on Tuesday, in a press conference held in Canberra. ”We are ensuring that Australian jobs and Australian values are placed first.”
A few moments later the Prime Minister revealed that he will be replacing 457 visas with 2 new types of visas which are going to be pretty much similar to the very popular visa scheme.
Mr Turnbull is not getting rid og temporary worker visas. He is just changing the name and ultimately refining its conditions.
Once the change takes effect, the visa terms are going to last either 2 or 4 years (compared to just 4 years as what is indicated at present), applicants are going to need at least a work experience of 2 years (as most applicants already have), which is going to make it a lot harder for them to shift to become permanent residents.
The number of occupations the 457 visas were originally made available is going to be reduced to 435 from 651 occupations. Workers in a lot of the occupations that were cut no longer use this visa scheme anymore, anyway. Occupatiosn such as turf growers, blacksmiths, auctioneers, and deer farmers, among others.
In the year to May of last year, no more imports of futures traders, funeral directors, archaeologists, or shoemakers, are coming in. At least, no one using the old visa scheme.
Turnbull is more likely to be seen to be doing something rather than be actually doing it. Temporary visa schemes is a huge lifeline for the country, and it has always been that way for a long time.
34,500 temporary workers were being imported every 3 months during the peak of the mining boom. Without these foreign workers we never would have been able to expand such as other mines all at the same time.
Only a few of the newly hired workers worked in mines, that does not mean though, that the mining boom did not create the need for them. The Victorian gold rush of the 1850s created a need for lawyers and teachers in Melbourne, and the iron ore rush in West Australia created a shortage of cooks to work in Port Hedland’s McDonald’s.
Locals who would have started working in the burger joint opted to work in the mines instead. The Education Department was not able to find cleaners in Karratha, and there was also a need for obstetricians. Temporary migrants make things go smoothly during boom times.
Recently, we have not been granting as many 457 visas, as there has been no need for it. Skilled migrants don’t come as much anymore either.
85,611 of the soon to be renamed 457 visas have been granted in the past financial year, and account for 0.7 per cent of the Australian workforce. This does not make them significant, as it is very hard to look for Australian doctors who would be willing to work in the outback.
Migrants from New Zealand are considered to be a bigger priority, but just as flexible. They come in to the country on unlimited 444 visas.
During the period of 205-2016, Australia granted an astonishing 1.9 million 444 visas to New Zealand migrants, which can’t be that bad seeing they’re a country with a population of 4.8 million. A lot of them would have been multiple entries and a lot would have been taking over the earlier migrants who have already left.
So many people from New Zealanders went to Australia during the mining boom. It has all since subsided eversince. During the year to June of last year, there were more Australians who moved to New Zealand than New Zealanders moving to Australia.
Australians who are bothered about the growth of the population in the country would be wise to know Australia’s total growth instead of the relatively small number of temporary 457 worker visas.
At the peak of our country’s 1^st mining boom, the growth in population went up to 2.2 per cent as immigrants on a number of visas decided to go to our country, and as Australians who would have left opted to stay home instead. Now, foreigners have become less interested to move to Australia, and locals have become more likely to leave which is what led to a less exciting population growth of 1.4 per cent.
Net migration is seen to be a reliable barometer of economic growth that the Department of Industry’s chief economist uses it as a benchmark for how things are going.
Things aren’t going as well as one would hope, however. Populations in states such as South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania are not growing as much. Queensland and New South Wales are doing better though, but Victoria’s population growth is doing the complete opposite, as its rate is going up like nothing anyone has seen before in decades. Victoria has gained another 127,500 residents in the past year, and has been able to provide homes for 4 out of 10 new Australians.
In spite of the worries of many, this growth has not turned out a loss of jobs for Victoria. Employment in the state is growing faster compared to any other Australian state, and we are not just talking about employment – job vacancies are also growing more quickly. The boom in jobs is encouraging both Australians and migrants to head to Victoria and create as many jobs as needed.
Just as Western Australia’s boom didn’t last, this too, will not last. Migration to Victoria is going to slow once it falters, because that’s how migration ultimately works. The skilled temporary 457 visas have been proven to be most useful in migration, which is why it is here to stay, but the name will be changed.